Wire V Catalans next week

I must say that I'm still absolutely furious with the RFL for picking such a garbage choice for next weeks cup semi final

It has been a massive opportunity gone begging. This game could have been in Barca or Toulouse/Marseille and would have been an excellent choice to showcase RL. There could have been 30k at Barca and 20k at Toulouse I'm sure. Would have also been a good marker for Toulouse RL.

What a complete cock-up. The RFL are incompetent. RU would have done exactly as I suggested

Think you are miles over with your predictions of crowds, but I do agree with the principle of the post. We got 18k when season tickets were used last year, so it would have to be a hell of an increase to get 30k.

Watching some of the athletics over the past few days made me remember how good it was over there and what a shame that we didn;t have the balls to stage a game like this there.

I would also love them to be bold and go for Magic Weekend there if they are moving it to Feb. It would be lovely there at that time of the year, and the RFL could fund journos coming over for the couple of days instead of having a crappy launch in London that nobody bothers writing about. If you can't get people interested in that, then we should give up!

But remember Wire have already been to Catalonia last week and fans wont be able to afford two trips. The move to Barcelona would have been a bold move, but I doubt very much the RFL had the skill and balls to pull it off.

But remember Wire have already been to Catalonia last week and fans wont be able to afford two trips. The move to Barcelona would have been a bold move, but I doubt very much the RFL had the skill and balls to pull it off.

But Catalans were in Bradford yesterday, and now in Widnes next week. How many of their fans could travel twice?

The game would have been loaded with Catalans fans, whereas now it will be loaded with Wire fans instead.

We either need to embrace Catalans and treat them like a full member of SL and the CC, rather than a foreign team in an English comp.

In this instance I've nothing against Widnes as the choice given its locality to Wire, though it is an awful place to attract people from Catalans who want to overnight stay, as is any other Northern town (bar Blackpool) rather than city

I just don't think any UK place would have been appropriate for this unique semi

In this instance I've nothing against Widnes as the choice given its locality to Wire, though it is an awful place to attract people from Catalans who want to overnight stay, as is any other Northern town (bar Blackpool) rather than city

I just don't think any UK place would have been appropriate for this unique semi

Such is the eternal dilema of the Cup semi - especially for two teams who aren't neighbours already. People cry foul if they have to travel to Yorkshire from Lancashire or vice-versa - this is just that on a bigger scale.

Not to say I don't agree with the points made - I would have loved to seen it in Tolouse or Barca (although to keep the argument going to it's logical conclusion, it shouldn't really be at Catalan's neighbours either )

But Catalans were in Bradford yesterday, and now in Widnes next week. How many of their fans could travel twice?

The game would have been loaded with Catalans fans, whereas now it will be loaded with Wire fans instead.

We either need to embrace Catalans and treat them like a full member of SL and the CC, rather than a foreign team in an English comp.

Exactly. Everybody is quick to point out that Catalans don't bring any support with them, but is it any wonder? For an English fan, a trip to the south of France is a holiday - good weather, beaches, drinking and a rugby match thrown in as well. And they only have to go once a year. For the french fans it's 14 or more times a year. And no matter what anyone thinks of Warrington, Wigan, Castleford etc. - they sure as hell aren't holiday destinations.

Barcelona might have given Les Dragons a bit of an advantage, but not half as much as Warrington will get just 6 miles down the road. The RFL might just as well of booked the Halliwell Jones for the match. It would've saved all the Warrington fans having to travel all that way.

Such is the eternal dilema of the Cup semi - especially for two teams who aren't neighbours already. People cry foul if they have to travel to Yorkshire from Lancashire or vice-versa - this is just that on a bigger scale.

Not to say I don't agree with the points made - I would have loved to seen it in Tolouse or Barca (although to keep the argument going to it's logical conclusion, it shouldn't really be at Catalan's neighbours either )

If you think Toulouse or Barcelona are neighbours of Perpignan, you need to sweep the emo hair out of your eyes.

I can confirm 30+ less sales for Scotland vs Italy at Workington, after this afternoons test purchase for the Tonga match, £7.50 is extremely reasonable, however a £2.50 'delivery' fee for a walk in purchase is beyond taking the mickey, good luck with that, it's cheaper on the telly.

I think a truly neutral venue is always best, but in this instance it made sense to make it local to one of the sides.

London or Paris could have been deemed neutral but would it have really got a crowd? Even if the RFL had put loads of marketing into it I'm still not sure it would get a crowd as good as you get by keeping it local.

Not to say that it couldn't have been local to Catalans, but I think being local to one of the sides is the right option to guarantee a 'decent' crowd and ensure it makes a profit.

I think a truly neutral venue is always best, but in this instance it made sense to make it local to one of the sides.

London or Paris could have been deemed neutral but would it have really got a crowd? Even if the RFL had put loads of marketing into it I'm still not sure it would get a crowd as good as you get by keeping it local.

Not to say that it couldn't have been local to Catalans, but I think being local to one of the sides is the right option to guarantee a 'decent' crowd and ensure it makes a profit.

Pretty sure there would have been more on in Paris or Toulouse than in ##### Widnes

There will be no more than 100 Cats fans in Widnes, and I doubt the crowd will exceed 12k

However I'll bet Wire would have taken 8k to Paris or Toulouse, and there would have been far more Les Cats fans there too

Gobshyte kock-up by the RFL - A small time organisation, who seems to have no idea about expansion. This would have been a great showcase in France

Pretty sure there would have been more on in Paris or Toulouse than in ##### Widnes

There will be no more than 100 Cats fans in Widnes, and I doubt the crowd will exceed 12k

However I'll bet Wire would have taken 8k to Paris or Toulouse, and there would have been far more Les Cats fans there too

Gobshyte kock-up by the RFL - A small time organisation, who seems to have no idea about expansion. This would have been a great showcase in France

Why do you have to make stupid predictions like this? 8k to Paris or Toulouse? You are living in cloud cuckoo land and you completely discredit any points you have with crazy predictions like this. We are taking 10k to Widnes, and if you honestly think you would get 80% of these going to France then you are clueless.

You may have got 2-3k absolute max, more likely 1.5-2k, which would still have been very good. You would then need a good French following, and Paris isn;t the place IMO, as they only got around 7k for the 4N game against the Aussies.

You make yourself look stupid by making out that the RFL are stupid and incompetent and then come out with absolute nonsense that Wire would take 8k to Paris and they would get a crowd of 30k in Barcelona. There is nothing whatsoever that backs up your estimates.